USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department will seek to reinstate a death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man who was convicted of carrying out the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, Attorney General William Barr said Thursday.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, was pulled from a luxury yacht and arrested Thursday on allegations that he and three associates ripped off donors trying to fund a southern border wall, making him the latest in a long list of Trump allies to be charged with a crime.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Dozens of wildfires raging throughout Northern California have now claimed at least five lives and threaten tens of thousands of homes, authorities said Thursday.

The death of a resident in Solano County, in the northeastern San Francisco Bay Area, was reported Thursday by Sheriff Thomas A. Ferrara, although he didn’t have any additional details.

In addition, three civilians had died in Napa County since the fires began, said Daniel Berlant, a Cal Fire assistant deputy director. In all, more than 30 civilians and firefighters have been injured.

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Joe Biden vowed to unite an America torn by crisis and contempt Thursday night, accepting the Democratic presidential nomination in an unfinished personal quest that has spanned three decades and been marred by personal tragedy, political stumbles and more dynamic rivals.

NEW YORK, Aug 20 (NNN-XINHUA) – The total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States surpassed 5.5 million on Wednesday, according to the Centre for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE), at Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. case count rose to 5,505,074, with the national death toll reaching 172,418, as of 1:27 p.m. local time (1727 GMT), according to the CSSE.

The hardest-hit U.S. state of California reported 640,722 cases, followed by Florida with 584,047 cases, Texas with 569,331 cases, and New York with 426,571 cases, the tally showed.

HOUSTON, Aug 20 (NNN-XINHUA) – A massive fire that broke out overnight at a plastics plant near U.S. Texas city of Dallas is likely to burn for days, officials said.

Local fire department officials said, the fire started around midnight at a plastic plant in Grand Prairie, about 21 kilometres west of Dallas, when a power line fell onto a storage area containing plastic sheeting.

Grand Prairie Fire Department Assistant Chief, Bill Murphy, said, one of the rail cars caught fire and then the fire spread, adding that no injuries have been reported.

New York, Aug 20 (PTI) In his most blistering attack on Donald Trump, former president Barack Obama has accused his successor of treating the presidency like a "reality show" and said the top Republican leader hasn't grown into the job because he can't.

Obama, the country's first Black president, spoke on the third night of the virtual Democratic National Convention on Wednesday just before Senator Kamala Harris of California became the first Black person to be formally nominated for vice-president by a major party.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Students are returning to university campuses across the United States amid an increase in new COVID-19 cases, adding challenges to the country's control of the widely spread virus.

Whether and how to reopen schools in the United States this fall has become a hotly-debated issue in recent weeks. While some politicians have been pushing for in-school learning as soon as possible, many families are hesitant to send their children back due to safety concerns.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Postal Service faced more questions and a federal lawsuit Wednesday over mail disruptions, despite assurances by President Donald Trump’s postmaster general of no more service changes until after the November election — a pledge made only after a public outcry.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former FBI lawyer pleaded guilty Wednesday to altering a document related to the secret surveillance of a former Trump campaign adviser during the Russia investigation.

Kevin Clinesmith is the first current or former official to be charged in a special Justice Department review of the investigation into ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Attorney General William Barr appointed John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, to scrutinize decisions made by officials during that probe.